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You'd think a hegemony with a 100-years tradition of upkeeping democracy against major non-democratic players, would have some mechanism that would prevent itself from throwing down it's key ideology.

Is it really that the president is all that decides about the future of democracy itself? Is 53 out of 100 senate seats really enough to make country fall into authoritarian regime? Is the army really not constitutionally obliged to step in and save the day?

I'd never think that, of all places, American democracy would be the most volatile.

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[-] Makeshift@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

We’re ignoring the constitution already.

14th Amendment. Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

The man is an adjudicated insurrectionist. Congress just ignored their duty.

So yes, there “are” protections. Said protections are simply being ignored.

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Impeachment, but that starts with a 218 vote in the House and the House is on his side.

[-] ddplf@szmer.info 0 points 1 year ago

So you actually need majority to PREVENT the collapse of democracy, and if you don't have it, you're fucked? How the fuck did this country even manage not to succumb into dictatorship for such a long time?

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Worse... The House makes the impeachment charge, that's a 50% majority vote.

THEN it goes to the Senate for conviction where you need a 2/3rds majority to remove them. 67/100.

That's the body which can't do anything because they're blocked by a 60 vote super majority to over-ride a filibuster.

So you get 218 in the House, goes to the Senate, needs 60 votes to end debate and proceed with charges, then 67 votes to convict and remove.

Trump's first impeachment got 48 and 47 votes.
His second was 57 votes.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_impeachment_trial_of_Donald_Trump

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_impeachment_of_Donald_Trump

If he had been convicted, he would have been inelligible to run in '24.

[-] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

It has been under corporate dictatorship for over a century.

[-] jason@discuss.online 1 points 1 year ago

We enter parliament in order to supply ourselves, in the arsenal of democracy, with its own weapons. If democracy is so stupid as to give us free tickets and salaries for this bear's work, that is its affair. We do not come as friends, nor even as neutrals. We come as enemies. As the wolf bursts into the flock, so we come.

Joseph Goebbels

[-] MudMan@fedia.io 1 points 1 year ago

The mechanism was the election.

I mean, sure, impeachment and whatnot, but it's not like people didn't know who this guy was. I can give other institutions a whole bunch of crap for not getting rid of the guy the first time, but when you've given him a Supreme Court supermajority, both chambers of Congress and the presidency AFTER he attempted a coup I'm gonna say that's on you, guys.

[-] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 1 points 1 year ago

The mechanism was the election.

That's making the very bold assumption that there was no interference in said election. In fact, we know for a fact that there was, we just don't know the extent of the interference and whether it changed the outcome. The reason we don't know is because it wasn't investigated (or if it was, it wasn't publicized), so I'm going to take the stance that it's very possibly on the outgoing administration, actually, for not making a bigger stink about it.

[-] merc@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago

It turns out that a handful of young land-owning white men from the 1700s, born almost 200 years before the advent of game theory, didn't actually properly anticipate every way in which the political system they were designing could fail.

[-] farngis_mcgiles@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 year ago

it's working as intended

[-] squid_slime@lemm.ee -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Assuming America is a democracy is the first mistake. killing the native population, viewing non land owners, poc and many more as lessors. Let's not forget who wrote the constitution.

this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2025
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